


Something like freedom

by shimshake



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26684983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shimshake/pseuds/shimshake
Summary: A rare moment of quiet has Ghazan thinking out loud. Takes place before the Red Lotus begin to fuck shit up. Red Lotus drabble.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Something like freedom

“What do you guys think of kids?”

The ground was pleasantly cool as Ghazan lay with his arms folded behind his head. He kept his eyes focused on the night sky above, seeking out familiar constellations much easier to see now that he wasn’t in a cage. He bent his leg at the knee, resting his opposite ankle on top. “I mean, you know, do you think you’d ever want kids?”

“Feeling sentimental all of a sudden?” Ming-Hua said.

“No, I’m just curious.” He shifted onto his side and leaned on his arm. “Zaheer, you want kids?”

The light between them was a dull orange, the small fire they’d chanced crackling softly. Zaheer shifted and his eyes passed quickly over P'li who sat to his right. When he settled, he inhaled loudly and slowly through his nose.

 _Stalling,_ Ghazan noted. “Sorry, I’m asking the wrong person. _P’li,_ ” he said, turning his attention to her, “do _you_ want kids?” Ming-Hua chuckled beside him and he could feel the sides of his own mouth twitching upward.

P’li sat hunched, her elbows resting on her knees as she stared at the fire. “No,” she said before turning her attention to her nails.

A ‘no’ for both of them, then. Ghazan turned his head. Ming-Hua looked like a statue, her back straight and legs folded beneath her. The low light brought out the sharpness of her features. “How about you? You want kids, Ming-Hua?” He swatted at her leg and she glanced down to where he had touched her.

“Of course not.”

“What? Why not?”

“I hate kids.”

Ghazan looked around at all of them then shook his head. “I can’t believe this,” he said under his breath. He settled himself back on the ground, hands cradling his head as he stared back into the vastness of sky. “I think I’d be a good dad.”

“Oh, please,” P’li said. Ming-Hua snorted.

“What? I’m being serious!” He laughed when he spoke, but he _was_ being serious. He would be a kickass dad.

“What do you think being a good dad is?” Ming-Hua said. “Prison-sanctioned family dinners? Passing on the finer techniques of squatting in a bush? Manslaughter?”

“Hey, just because _you_ all are heartless assholes—”

“I’m sure the White Lotus guard whose face you melted off tells his family what a kind and thoughtful man you were,” P’li said. Ghazan meant to retort but laughed with everyone else before he could. “Thank the spirits we don’t have any tiny Ghazans running around.”

Ghazan placed his hand over his heart. “That really hurts, P’li. That hurts right here.”

The ground scraped as Ming-Hua stretched her legs out from underneath her. “Who would want to bring a kid into this awful world anyway?” she said.

P’li leaned back on her hands. “Yeah,” she agreed, eyes still on the fire. Ghazan’s own attention followed and after a moment, he bent the earth beneath the kindling so the fire burned a little higher. P’li smiled a little when it did.

13 years in four different flavors of shithole, kept alive so they could rot separated and alone. And the time before that, when The System tried to pretend that people like them didn’t even exist. That the world itself was not actually suffering or repressed under the gilded feet of tyrants.

_Well._

“That’s what we’re working to change, isn’t it?” Ghazan said. “Make the world a better place and all.”

“We were almost parents once, the four of us,” Zaheer said suddenly. “Or something like it.”

Ghazan held out a hand. “See? That’s what I’m saying!”

“I’m sure you’d have been a great parent to that kidnapped daughter of yours,” P'li said with a sardonic smile. Beside her, Zaheer looked especially contemplative. Ghazan was about to ask him about his thoughts, but Ming-Hua caught his attention by standing up.

“You’ll just have to live with almost being a shitty dad,” she said.

“And you were almost the creepy mom.” He grinned wider when she kicked his shoulder. He turned his attention back to Zaheer who looked like he’d come back from his reverie. “For what it’s worth, I think you’d be a pretty okay dad, Zaheer. I mean, forget the trail of dead bodies and all the blood money you’ve ever made. Or stolen.” Ghazan waved his hand as though erasing all of Zaheer’s past trespasses. “Just forget all that and I think we’d really have something.”

"Then there'd be nothing left," P'li said, smiling at the man beside her. She and Ming-Hua laughed, and Zaheer even smiled a little, the surly bastard.

“Thank you, Ghazan,” he said with a downward tilt of his head. Almost bashful. 

“You’re welcome. These other two are hopeless.”

Ghazan was being genuine though. Zaheer could be dry, downright boring sometimes. But he was patient and thoughtful, much more so than the rest of them. And if P’li was any indication, Zaheer made it abundantly clear he could be gentle and loving. Yeah yeah, so he’d done some stuff, killed some people blah blah blah. Who among the human race _hadn’t_ is what Ghazan wanted to know. And sure, maybe he wasn’t the best judge of parental skill–-he hadn’t grown up with any models by whom to judge--but from what Ghazan could gather, Zaheer wouldn’t be half bad, all things considered.

Ghazan felt another kick to his shoulder and looked up to see Ming-Hua looking down at him. “I’m going back to the water pit. Do you want to come?”

“Hey, yeah.” He sat up. “How about you guys?”

P’li glanced up at Ming-Hua and the side of her mouth twitched. She almost sounded like she wanted to laugh when she spoke. “I think I’m gonna pass. Zaheer, I need help with—with a thing. Come on.”

“With a ‘thing?’”

“Just come on.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at least five and a half years ago (LOL) and realized I'd never posted. Figured now was a good as time as any. Thanks for reading. :)


End file.
